You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 125 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 125 Part 1

From the beginning of the first match, Xiao Rui was sitting in the break room checking posts on Tieba.

Tieba was flooded with posts with titles like [ZGDX, the world’s number one braggart] [What’s ZGDX’s top doing] [Smiling really can’t play in a uphill battle, she can only put icing on the cake] [My eyes hurt watching this match] [Let me tell you a joke, the major league’s best team gets smashed by a relegation team]. One post with the title [ZGDX must be the last fig leaf of the major league] was pushed to the top with many people leaving “?” comments to ridicule it……

Xiao Rui read the posts one after another.

Then he backed out of each post.

He didn’t even have to look up at the big screen tv in the breakroom to know what the match was going on at the present time. He could tell how the game was like by reading comments like: ZGDX is being brutally beaten by YQCB. ZGDX is fighting desperately like a cornered beast, struggling with much difficulty……

Putting down his cell phone, Xiao Rui sighed and said to the staff in the room: “We can order them to delete Tieba again.”

The staff smiled bitterly. 

When the ban & pick phase of the second match started, Xiao Rui figured out something after staring at the screen for a while. He took out Tong Yao’s little notebook from her jacket and flipped to find the notes she took about the skirmish against Team OP-- --He compared the ban & pick record on the notebook to the ban & pick broadcasting on the TV in front of him. He opened his mouth and had a sense of deja vu.

Xiao Rui put down Tong Yao’s notebook and picked up his cell phone to read Tieba again, and found the posts had changed-- --

[Is ZGDX giving up by taking this lineup?]

[What kind of fancy trick this is.]

[With this ban & pick, is ZGDX trying to give their brother team next door a hand?]

……

After the match started, the posts became-- --

[Look at the speed Tong Yao comes to help.]

[There’s no match to ZGDX’s champion pool; there’s no champion that they can’t use.]

[ZGDX is still stronger, no doubt about it.]

[It’s really something to see Taliyah interrupt Pope. I never knew that this champion was this useful-- --To be honest, it seems that all the major league players wouldn’t take a certain champion until either Smiling or lck has used them.]

……

The most interesting thing was that the post [ZGDX must be the last fig leaf of the major league] was pinned again with comments of “?” that were counter ridiculing those who had left “?” beneath the post when ZGDX was losing the match earlier-- --

There were bustling and lively discussions on Tieba, but they were a complete turn around from those trolling ZGDX thirty minutes ago. Xiao Rui was amazed by it and almost doubted whether he had logged on to a fake Tieba…… When ZGDX pushed YQCB’s base in the second match, he couldn’t stand to keep quiet anymore and made a post-- --

[Subject] [Boasting when winning, trolling when losing. Faces change 30 times during a 30 minute match, to be honest, don’t you all feel like retarded?]

Content of the post: 

YQCB has been playing completely differently from the Spring competition, the team has remodeled itself. Can you all see that these two teams are on a par with each other?

This is a good thing. With only one team performing well, we’ll never win the world championship. If we want the world title, the whole region has to be strong.

To be honest with you, you all like to rush to judge, boasting when they’re winning and trolling when they’re losing, and really look retarded.

In the time between making the post and the players returning to the breakroom after the second match, no one replied to Xiao Rui’s post. The post quickly disappeared in the sea of all the other posts.

Xiao Rui: “......”

It looked like no one felt like they were retarded.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 124 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 124 Part 3

Little Fatty looked at his own Taric, then looked at YQCB’s lineup and finally he became the third person in the arena to realize what was going on. He cried out: “Ahhh, isn’t this-- --”

“It was the lineup we took when we played the skirmish against that Korean team, OP, before. When we saw they locked down Yasuo, we felt relieved and took Azir and Trundle. Then? We got badly beaten.” Ming god’s voice came through the earphones, with a tint of gratifying smile: “You guys are always like this. Forgetting everything after reviewing a skirmish. You know why people say a good memory isn’t as good as a crappy pen. Only our Tong Yao would take down notes, that’s why she remembered……”

Tong Yao tee-heed.

Lu Sicheng at this moment had already relaxingly leaned back again in the chair. He turned and saw Tong Yao was smiling, he reached out with his long arm to touch the corners of her curved up lips.

Then he sat back up again and locked Taliyah for Tong Yao.

Yasuo, who everyone thought was for mid, instantly became top’s champion. The audience was once again in a commotion, though the noise was blocked out by the players’ earphones-- --The commentators were in shock too. Despite the result of this match, at least at the ban & pick phase ZGDX had tricked YQCB multiple times and each time ZGDX has led YQCB around by the nose.

This looked like it was going to be a splendid best of three match!

Just 5 minutes into the game, Pope as usual tried to dive at just level three but was quickly taught a lesson by ZGDX’s unconventional line up. Gragas arrived just in time to blow Pope away and interrupted the tempo of his offensive. The fast moving Taliyah came to assist and killed YQCB’s two players at bot together with Gargas, one step ahead of Azir!

Ai Jia arrived afterwards and was about to turn around and leave, but he was blocked by Taliyah’s e ability, which throws boulders in a cone and slow enemies in the area, then Taliyah stomped on his face-- --

The first 3:0 at the beginning of the game!

ZGDX also easily took down bot’s outer turret!

The first drake was also theirs!

YQCB seemed not to know how to deal with such a strange lineup which they had never fought against. In this match they experienced the same pressure they had delivered onto ZGDX in the last match. ZGDX moved fast to support each other, they communicated well, and Old K had placed wards all over the upper half of the jungle to keep the area under watch. Old Cat’s Yasuo, though on the sidelines, could still develop quite smoothly……

At the 25th minute of the game, both sides had a team fight.

Taliyah’s e ability together with Yasuo’s wind wall created an airtight wall which prevented the enemy from flanking their own team. When YQCB saw that after they had tried everything they could but Pope still couldn’t get closer to Lu Sicheng who was well protected by his teammates, and Old Cat’s Yasuo could move freely like the wind to YQCB’s side, they knew that this match was probably a goner-- --

The status of a match could change rapidly at any moment, but sometimes, the result of a match could be already decided right at the ban & pick phase!

At the 37th minute, ZGDX pushed to YQCB’s base and easily won the match. The battle between the two teams now had to be decided with a third match!

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 92 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times

Chapter 92 Part 2 

Extra: Shen Zemu and Yang Yin

Actually, Deng Wenbo had hired Yang Yin as a last resort. Dw had been downgraded and any aspiring players or coaches wouldn't willingly take the post. He certainly could afford to splurge, but the problem was whether splurging would help raise his team back up. He had spent a large sum of money to hire first rate players in the first place but the team was still downgraded. Unlimited splurging would only make him a squanderer and become a laughing stock in the business.

Since Yang Yin was willing to agree to a bet with him, Deng Wenbo figured that Yang Yin must’ve been confident enough to take on the task.

As soon as Deng Wenbo signed the agreement with Yang Yin, he left the mess all to Yang Yin.

After Dw was downgraded, four of the five main players left. The remaining one stayed because he hadn’t found a team to go to. Yang Yin picked among the substitutes and the youth trainees to form a new team. That was the first step.

The second step was to replace the two original data analysts who had also resigned. Yang Yin got hold of Deng Webo hoping that he could hire another data analyst.

When the phone call got through, Deng Wenbo happened to be singing in a karaoke club with some of his lady friends. After hearing Yang Yin’s request, he simply said: “You can take care of it.”

Yang Yin was having trouble with the same problem-- --A downgraded team couldn’t attract an aspiring data analyst. Those who were willing to come probably wouldn’t meet Yang Yin’s requirements.

Without any other choices, Yang Yin posted an advertisement in her friend groups:

Hiring Data Analyst, Kings of Glory game. Good at math, has strong logical thinking skills, good analytical abilities and enough knowledge about the game. Competitive pay. Contact me if interested. Cell phone: xxxxxxxxxxx.

Xiang Nuan asked: Yin Jiejie, can this data analyst be part-time?

Yang Yin hadn’t thought about this question. All the data analysts she had seen were full-time. But …… there didn’t seem to be any problem if it was part-time. The data analyst’s job was to sort out and analyse data then make suitable suggestions. Anyone who had a computer could do it; there was no strict requirement about when and where the analyst could work.

Yang Yin then reposted after deleting the first one and added “Part-timers welcome.”

Afterwards, she asked Xiang Nuan: Nuannuan, are you interested?

Xiang Nuan: I’m not. My math isn’t that good. Q A Q

Xiang Nuan: I was thinking about asking Lin Chuyan whether he wants to do it. But he said he’s too busy to take on another part-time job.

Yang Yin: En, en. Come visit me at my club.

Xiang Nuan: Sure, sure!

……

Waiwai saw Yang Yin’s post and got very excited: “I’m going to apply. I want to make money!”

Shen Zemu who was next to him glanced over him: “Don’t apply.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve already applied.”

“Hey, you think I’m not qualified to compete with you?”

Shen Zemu didn’t reply and gave him a look. The meaning of the look was quite obvious.

Waiwai was quite annoyed at being despised. What was even more annoying was the fact that he really wasn’t in a position to compete with Shen Zemu.

Shen Zemu briefly asked Yang Yin on WeChat about the job description and the pay for being a data analyst. After Yang Yin told him, she asked him: Are you interested?

Shen Zemu: En.

Yang Yin: You have enough time?

Shen Zemu: Yes.

He was going to be a senior soon and had been guaranteed a slot in his graduate school of choice already. The coming year would probably be the most relaxed period in his college career.

Then Yang Yin said: Let’s meet and talk it over.

Shen Zemu: Alright.

They agreed to meet the next day. It was exam week and Shen Zemu had two exams on that day. Yang Yin arrived at school to meet him and waited for him outside his classroom.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 124 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 124 Part 2

As the commentators chattered along, the second match between ZGDX and YQCB officially  started after three minutes.

The first thing YQCB did was to ban Kindred, Ashe, and Leblanc. Aside from Leblanc who was always banned, the others were all the champions ZGDX had used in the last match-- --Banning Kindred was certainly because of that team fight in the last match and YQCB would deny ZGDX from having their Kindred and Janna combination again. As for Ashe, though Pope had used Sivir’s shield to block Ashe’s ultimate in the last match, there were times during the last match where she still caused a lot of headaches for YQCB…... 

-- --It was a common scene during this season’s competition matches to see ZGDX use Ashe at bot and see her work with their mid by shooting an arrow to ambush the enemy mid, giving their mid a kill and letting them steal the enemy’s blue buff.

On the ZGDX side, with YQCB having first choice in the pick phase, ZGDX banned Vladimir, knowing that Tong Yao wouldn’t want to take it again, and then banned Jhin, followed by Sivir.

YQCB picked Ezreal as their first champion. Ezreal was the most popular ad champion; no matter how strong or weak the ad was, it was always a good choice to pick Ezreal. YQCB’s pick was expected.

When it was ZDGX’s turn to pick, they also locked down a champion for their AD at bot, Kog’Maw. Then Little Fatty took Taric after some consideration.

Afterwards YQCB picked Rek’Sai and Braum.

YQCB’s jungler, Xbang, and support, Liangsheng, were very good at playing these two champions.

ZGDX players started to discuss the lineup of their opposition. It looked like YQCB was missing some DPS so far, but all the other champions they took were all quite tanky and Ezreal was a champion who could run very fast…...It seemed that YQCB was saying to ZGDX: We know you’re strong in the lanes, then we won’t fight with you while laning. We’ll take these all-rounded champions to piss you off.

“Then, Tong Yao might as well take an assassin champion.”

“What do I take, Trundle? With their line up now, a normal assassin can’t cut to the flank…...You better think of someone who can break their formation.”

“I have a feeling that they’re going to take Ekko. Ahhhhh, all meat plus Ekko.”

During their lively discussion, Tong Yao had kept quiet. She fixed her eyes on her own team’s lineup, then checked the enemy’s, suddenly she spoke after thinking it over thoroughly: “What I want to say is that Ai Jia is such a steady player and Azir would be the best match for him-- --If he takes Azir later, don’t you guys feel this ban & pick phase looks rather familiar?”

The exchanges in the earphones abruptly quieted down after Tong Yao spoke-- --Even Lu Sicheng, who was lazily stretching his long legs out and playing with his fingers, paused after hearing Tong Yao. He turned to take a look at his girl, turned to look at the computer screen, then his eyes brightened up and he sat up in his chair.

It was Tong Yao’s turn to pick now.

She went ahead and picked Yasuo.

Yasuo was a famous orphan champion in the Chinese servers who rarely appeared in competitions because it took a very skilled player to handle Yasuo well and in many cases, those who couldn’t play Yasuo well would harm their own teammates. The audience was in a commotion. Even the commentators were confused: “What’s going on?” “She’s taking Yasuo, it can’t be?”-- --

From the corner of her eye, Tong Yao saw the YQCB players were also stretching their necks to look over at her team as if trying to figure what her team was up to……

Contrary to those reactions, Lu Sicheng started to laugh while fixing his eyes on the computer. Then with Little Fatty, Old Cat and Old K looking at each other not knowing what was going on, he simply said: “Just take it.”

Tong Yao locked down Yasuo.

YQCB then took Trundle and Azir.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 92 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times

Chapter 92 Part 1 

Extra: Shen Zemu and Yang Yin

Since that red envelope exchange, Yang Yin and Shen Zemu didn’t have any contact for a month. The two seemed to have a mutual understanding to pretend that they had forgotten about what had happened.

But Shen Zemu still knew what was going on with Yang Yin. Yang Yin would chat on their WeChat group occasionally. Though Shen Zemu wouldn’t participate in the chat, he would still read what was being posted.

At the end of June, Yang Yin announced in the WeChat group that she had found a job and would like to invite everyone to eat.

Her new job was as a coach for a Kings of Glory professional team. This team had been formed last year and changed hands and name in the Spring this year. The team had been defeated in the preliminary competition not too long ago and lost its chance to return to the professional major league next season.

Kings of Glory was an extremely popular game and there were many professional teams, big and small. However, the teams that drew any attention from fans were the 12 teams in the major league. The rest of the teams were trying anyway they could to become one of the 12. After every season’s regular competition, according to the performances of each team, only 9 out of the 12 teams would keep their seats in the league and secure their rights to participate in the competition next season. The 3 teams that were eliminated would have to take place in the preliminary competition and compete with other teams for the right to play in next season’s competition-- --The other teams were winners from various minor leagues.

The team Yang Yin was coaching, Team Dw, didn’t do well in the Spring season this year. The team was second to last of the 12, they had fallen down to the preliminaries and still couldn’t stand out from there.

Esports was a very cruel business. Teams changed hands quite frequently. A team like Dw existed in the past and it would continue to exist in the future as well. Basically, when the team was defeated, it meant the team would be disbanded. The owner of the team would disband and sell the team’s resources in order to cut their losses.

However, Dw’s current owner was Deng Wenbo.

Money wasn’t an issue for Deng Wenbo. What he cared the most was his personal pride. He didn’t care that he had spent a large amount of money to buy a team and sign up some good players. He had spent all the money to make himself happy.

But the team’s performance couldn’t make him happy anymore.

Yang Yin happened to come up to him on her own at the time.

……

“Yin Jiejie, how did you talk him into it?” Xiang Nuan asked. Xiang Nuan had some impression about Deng Wenbo; he liked to boast but was rather slow when playing games. In any case, he was an unreliable person.

“I’ve signed a bet with him. If I can bring Dw back into the major league in the next preliminary, he’ll give me one million, after tax.”

“That’s a lot of money. Yin Jiejie, you’re going to be rich!”

Yang Yin laughed: “Thanks for your kind words. Wait for me to be rich!”

Shen Zemu who had been quiet up till now suddenly opened his mouth: “What if you can’t?”

Yang Yin was taken aback and looked at him.

Shen Zemu asked: “What if you can’t bring the team back, what do you owe him?”

Yang Yin used her tea cup to lightly knock on the table and said: “Well, can you just wish me well instead?”

“You had some issues with him before.” Shen Zemu said.

Xiang Nuan doubtfully looked at Lin Chuyan. Lin Chuyan shook his head, he had nothing to do with this.

“Yin Jiejie, what happened between you and Deng Wenbo?” Xiang Nuan asked.

Yang Yin told her about what happened before. Xiang Nuan then connected the dots. The boss whom Yang Yin had broken his arm was Deng Wenbo. Now she had circled back to work for him again.

Xiang Nuan felt sorry for Yang Yin: “Then why do you still……”

Yang Yin didn’t seem to think it was a big deal: “One has to bow her head sometimes if one wants to survive in society.”

……

Not too long after that, Lin Chuyan met Deng Wenbo by chance. He pulled Deng Wenbo over to the corner and seriously told him: “I heard that Yang Yin’s gone working for you.”

“That’s right. You know her?”

Lin Chuyan said: “She’s good friends with my girlfriend. If you bully her, my girlfriend would be upset. When my girlfriend gets upset, I won’t be happy. If I’m not happy-- --”

“You’ll rape me.” Deng Wenbo cut in. He felt really gloomy that he’d met a person like Lin Chuyan.

“Don’t flatter yourself.” Lin Chuyan said: “My body can only belong to my Nuannuan.”

“Oh, I’m damn happy about it.”

“-- --I’ll look for a gorilla to rape you.”

Deng Wenbo was speechless and rolled his eyes: “Lin Chuyan, does your family know that you’re this shameless?”

“They know it.”

Deng Wenbo opened his mouth but didn’t know how to continue the conversation.

Lin Chuyan lightly tapped Deng’s shoulder: “So, don’t bully Yang Yin.”

“I certainly won’t bully her. We’re now partners. You think I’m an animal?”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 124 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 124 Part 1

When it was time for the second match against YQCB, Tong Yao walked out from backstage and felt as if there was background music playing right behind her-- --the solemn and tragic kind……

After she sat down on her seat, she rested her arms on the armrests of the chair and started to ponder which champion she should get later-- --Vladimir was out of the question, she still couldn’t get over the fact she had made some mistakes with Vladimir in the last match…...Leblanc was impossible for her to get. Leblanc hadn’t been seen for quite some time now in any match that ZGDX played. Then, what was left? Ahri? Talon? Diana? There were also some assassin champions. But Tong Yao had seen videos of past games, usually a mid assassin couldn’t do much harm to Ai Jia……

Then, Twisted Fate? She could play Twisted Fate well, but did she really want to use Twisted Fate now?

She knew that all the other regions, including the Korean Region, would study ZGDX’s competition videos-- -- Normally every team would hide their real strength before important competitions. It was unthinkable for any team with the confidence that they would make it to the world championships to expose the team’s true ability in a match during a league competition.

She couldn’t take Twisted Fate. Besides, Ming god was responsible for the ban & pick and wouldn’t agree to it either.

Sitting behind the computer, Tong Yao was troubled.

Commentator A: [Now let’s take a look at the ZGDX side. They’re still keeping the same lineup as the last match-- --We can see Little Fatty’s eating candy, Old Cat and Old K are whispering to each other. All the players seem rather relaxed……]

Commentator B: [Have you simply overlooked the one who’s sitting in the middle? Though she’s shorter and blocked by the computer, you shouldn’t overlook her.]

The audience roared with laughter. Tong Yao in the trancelike state seemed to sense that they were talking about her. She looked up in confusion and only saw the audience laughing loudly-- --Lu Sicheng picked up the earphones and put them on for her. Tong Yao then turned to look at Lu Sicheng confusedly.

Lu Sicheng adjusted the earphones for her, his lean and long fingers seemed to unintentionally touch her earlobes.

The earphones had good soundproofing. Tong Yao, eyes fixed on the man who was bending over to adjust earphones for her, didn’t realize that the audience was now laughing even louder now-- --

Commentator A: [Cheng Ge’s putting Smiling’s headphones on for her. It means: You guys can talk bad things about my girlfriend, but don’t let her hear it. Otherwise, she’ll get angry and I’ll be blamed for not protecting her.]

Commentator B: [.................................You really have a dirty mind.]

Amidst the audience’s laughter, commentator A was also beaming. The cameraman pointed the lens at Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng. The whole arena was in a joyous mood. The audience saw Lu Sicheng straightened up his body after he had fixed Tong Yao’s headphones. He took a deep look at the direction of the camera, his lip curved up to smirk, then raised his hand up to make a hush gesture.

The laughter quieted down a little. One fangirl stared at the big screen and used her hands to cover her face and screamed quietly

Under the full view of the audience, Tong Yao grabbed Lu Sicheng’s hand next to his lips and asked him something with a frown. Lu Sicheng calmly shook his head and patted Tong Yao’s head as if to assure her of something.

Among the hundreds of people in the arena, Tong Yao was the only one who was in the dark.

Lu Sicheng also put on his earphones.

Commentator A: [I know that since the two Cs of ZGDX got together, there have been a lot of objections on Tiebe or somewhere else. At the time, I also seriously considered whether it was the correct choice for professional players to have a relationship……]

Commentator B: [It looks like it’s pretty good now. I’ve been commentating for the major league for three years, but I’ve never seen PDA in the arena.]  

Commentator A: [Hahahahaha, besides that, I also feel it’s a good thing. We can watch the game during a match and when the match’s over, we can enjoy some free drama as well……]

Commentator B: [They made me feel like falling in love myself. It's positive energy. We should all give them our blessings rather than talking some…...uh, this and that.]

Commentator A: [Too bad no one wants you.]

Commentator B: [......]

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 123 Part 5

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 123 Part 5

-- --We lost the match like a bunch of clowns.

Once that thought entered Tong Yao’s brain, a feeling of suffocation overwhelmed her. It was a feeling of inexplicable panic…...Tong Yao used her numb fingers to pull off her earphones. Suddenly she felt the stage lights and the cheers of the audience were very far from her. She staggered, then a big hand grabbed her arm.

Lu Sicheng didn’t say anything, but almost had to support her to go back to the break room-- --Tong Yao probably wasn’t the only one who felt that this defeat was different from the ones before. The whole break room was quiet……

The air conditioner in the break room seemed a bit too cold.

Tong Yao didn’t speak after sitting down. Unusually, Lu Sicheng didn’t use his tenacious memory during the short break to review each mistake at what minute and what second in the match they just finished. He just pulled his jacket over him, then used a cold stare to glance over the whole room. Everyone was either silent or quietly chatting.

Old Cat and Old K sat next to each other again. They looked quite calm, but carried a normal conversation which was a first in the past two days-- --

“Why did you come up with the idea to go trade turrets in the first wave?”

“I thought the enemy's top didn’t see me.”

“So I went to help you and that caused us two lives.”

“Ahh, yeah, this one was on me.” Old Cat casted his eyes down with the corners of his eyes softened and an apologetic smile on his lips. He didn’t question why Old K had to wait till he took down the monster before coming to help.

Old K seemed surprised. He looked up at Old Cat but didn’t say anything. He wasn’t upset or annoyed in any way but simply reached over to pat Old Cat’s shoulder-- --The gesture probably had some important meaning between the two.

The break room became extremely quiet again. They could hear the staff walking by in the hallway outside and the exchanges among them, mixing with the commentators’ discussion of the just finished match……

“I know no matter what I’ve said before, you guys don't really care about it. Now what?” The chilling voice of Lu Sicheng could be heard in the room: “After you all tested and verified with your own hands, don’t you all feel like you've been playing like a pile of shit?”

His voice was peaceful.

His tone didn’t carry an ounce of contempt. He simply raised a question and gave a metaphor he felt appropriate.

“Inflated.” Lu Sicheng flatly gave his conclusion. After a short pause, he said it lightly: “If we go to the world competition in this kind of condition, we might as well abstain from going like last year. The result will be the same anyway.”

Little Fatty lifted his hand to scratch his head, rather irritatedly.

Old K and Old Cat exchanged a look and read at the same time from the other’s eyes: “I’m wrong.”

Tong Yao looked downwards and twiddled her fingers-- --She seemed to have returned to the day about a month ago when she was banned from playing and Lu Sicheng had kept her in the little dark room to give her a character building lecture.  

“That’s enough. Don’t be too mean.” Lu Yue stood up and patted Tong Yao’s shoulder: “Haven’t you seen that your mid’s shivering like she has Parkinson’s?”

When Lu Sicheng looked over at Tong Yao, who was looking up blankly at Lu Yue. The next second, she felt a jacket, still warm, landed on her. Tong Yao looked back then saw the tall figure who was standing in front of her squat down-- --She looked up and met a pair of brown pupils looking back at her.

Lu Sicheng grabbed Tong Yao’s hands, the fingertips were icy cold but the palms were sweaty. He forced open her stiff fingers and pinched them: “Do you want to have Lu Yue go on for you?”

The looks in his eyes were calm from beginning to end.

Tong Yao paused, then slowly shook her head under Lu Sicheng’s gaze…..

She saw the look in his eyes finally become softer. He raised his hand to pet her head, seemingly to express a simple message: He had gotten the answer he’s looking for.

……

Tong Yao understood the message.

She was panicking because there was a moment just now when she didn’t know how to win the match against YQCB-- --Though she still didn’t know now, she seemed to realize that escaping wouldn’t solve the problem.

Either she would go fight it out herself and win it back, or if she was defeated, she would start over anew.

She always said before that escaping is shameful but useful. But now she suddenly discovered that that usefulness was actually only temporary-- --

She had to face it in the end.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 123 Part 4

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 123 Part 4

Little Fatty blew away three enemies. Tong Yao cut in and used the w ability to try to hurt the enemy’s ad. But she made a minor mistake in her positioning and didn’t even touch a hair on Pope. The moment when Tong Yao’s Sanguine Pool ability ended, the enemy’s Braum used his ultimate to lift her up off the ground then Sivir clicked to use her q ability, striking Vladimir twice. Together with Ekko’s stun, they instantly killed her in mid-air!

-- --At the 43rd minute, Old K arrived after respawning. But with their mid missing, ZGDX wasn’t a match to YQCB which now had Baron’s buff. ZGDX lost the team fight rather quickly. Old K, though survived, had to run back to base again with the enemy team chasing after him……

The commentators felt sorry for ZGDX and said that if Vladimir had waited 3 more seconds for Kindred to arrive then the result might’ve been different.

The audience also sighed at how ZGDX could let their mid initiate the team fight while Maokai was lagging behind.

Fans on the bullet comments also began dissing Tong Yao about her positioning, dissing Old Cat about how his champion looked like dream walking the entire time, dissing how stupid Old K was getting caught as he was placing wards……

-- --At the 44th minute 20th second, Lu Sicheng still sounded quite calm: “Next match.”

Then YQCB went to ZGDX’s base.

With Sivir in the lead, YQCB cleared all the minions very quickly. Then they pushed the mid base turret and went directly after the nexus turrets.

-- --At the 44th minute 45th second, the blue nexus exploded.

Tong Yao: “......”

ZGDX lost the match.

Watching the base destroyed bit by bit by YQCB’s Pope and mid, Tong Yao was having a difficult time describing how she felt-- --

It wasn’t that she hadn’t mentally prepared for the loss after hearing Lu Sicheng telling her. It wasn’t the first time that the team had lost the first match in a league competition then tried to make it up in the next two matches. It wasn’t the first time that she had been the weak link in a league competition causing the team to lose the match.

-- --But, all these thoughts didn’t help Tong Yao feel much better.

After experiencing all those things, she should’ve been able to accept the result. Yet, when she was watching their base explode, there was a short moment when her brain went blank…… Then the 45 minutes long match was compressed into a short film that began to replay in her head starting from the very beginning. She sat in her seat and tried hard to remember exactly from which second when the team was doomed to fail……

Had she started the team fight too early?

No, it was earlier.

When they lost the Baron?

No, no, no, even earlier.

When she made a mistake in positioning during the mid lane team fight and got instantly killed?

No, no, no, perhaps it’s even earlier than that……

Perhaps it was at the very beginning of the game; the first second when the champions left the fountain as she moved her champion forward and used the first ability as she exchanged fire with Ai Jia?

The anxiety brought on by the enemy’s watertight defense and zero mistakes during the whole game suddenly overwhelmed Tong Yao. Compared to them, her team had numerous positioning mistakes, mistakes in coordination, and was always one step behind assisting each other……

-- --It would be impossible to win a match with a team playing like this.

-- --It was already a miracle that they kept the game going for 45 minutes.

-- --The skills on all lanes for both teams were pretty even. If her team couldn’t coordinate well and made all kinds of mistakes, then it was very possible that her team would lose the following match as well.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 91

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times

Chapter 91 

Extra: Shen Zemu and Yang Yin

When Shen Zemu woke up, he had a bad headache as if someone had placed a jackhammer against his skull and turned it on. He was lying in bed on the side of his body with half of his face sunk into the pillow. He confusedly blinked his eyes.

He couldn’t remember how late they had stayed up drinking. He only remembered that the jar of liquor that Oblivion brought emptied rather quickly, then they kept on drinking a bunch of beers.

He remembered that he had played the harmonica and also sang later? What did he sing? He couldn’t remember……

The memory afterwards was so blurred that it was like a phantom image that was impossible for him to decipher.

Shen Zemu didn’t like the feeling he was experiencing now.

He wanted to rub his temple, but when he tried to lift his hand, he found he was hugging something in his arms.

No, not exactly. To be more precise, it wasn't something, it was a person.

It was a soft, warm, and na-naked body.

Shen Zemu was fully awake now.

The person in his arms curled up their body with their legs bending upwards. One of the knee caps happened to be stuck right between Shen Zemu’s legs, the most awkward place.

Shen Zumu shut his eyes, he suspected that he was still drunk.

With a sliver of hope, he reopened his eyes and saw the top of the head of the person sticking out of the edge of the blanket.

That person was almost totally buried under the blanket despite the danger of being suffocated.

Shen Zemu lifted up the blanket to look under it. The person’s head was facing downwards at an angle. Their head had fluffy, messy short hair that blocked the view of the person’s face.

Judging from the length of the hair, it could either be Lin Chuyan or Yang Yin.

Shen Zemu started to worry; if it was Lin Chuyan, he would rather kill himself.

Very quickly Shen Zemu knew with certainty that it wasn’t Lin Chuyan. Because the person moved their body a bit and Shen Zemu could feel two masses paste onto his chest.

They were supple and plump, a rather foreign touch to Shen Zemu and made it difficult for him to breath.

As he remained in a state of shock, Yang Yin opened her eyes.

Three seconds later, “Ah, wu-- --”

Shen Zemu covered Yang Yin’s mouth to stop the sudden scream that was about to come out of her throat. “Sor, sorry.”

Yang Yin didn’t struggle and just used her hand to pull Shen Zemu’s hand off her face. Then she looked at him, eyes moist.

She looked like a helpless small animal. Shen Zemu felt a bit sorry for her and let go of his hand: “Keep it down.”

Yang Yin was in shock and took a few seconds before reacting. She asked him: “What happened?”

“I don’t know.” Shen Zemu felt his headache was getting worse. For a short moment, he would even rather have Lin Chuyan in his arms now. There was a basic difference between a man and a woman. At least if he was facing a naked Lin Chuyan he wouldn’t feel guilty.

Yang Yin: “Last night, you……”

“I was drunk.”

Yang Yin thought about it: “So was I.”

Human beings easily turn into animals once they’re drunk.

The most urgent thing to do in the present was to put clothes on. After both of them got dressed, Yang Yin sat on the bed thinking about something. Her eyes widened and rolled around, it seemed there were a lot of thoughts going on in her mind. Shen Zemu sneaked a peek at her. She didn’t seem to be sad but seemed to be more in shock, like she was trying to understand something inconceivable.

Shen Zemu was worried. He wondered whether something intensive happened between them last night?

“How can it be?” Yang Yin was talking to herself.

Shen Zemu rubbed his temples: “Last night we……”

“Ah?” Yang Yin recovered and took a look at Shen Zemu. She lowered her head: “Don’t worry. Nothing happened between us last night.”

Shen Zemu wasn’t that dumb to ask why.

-- --

Xiang Nuan had left a message for Yang Yin, telling her that she and Lin Chuyan had gone to class early in the morning and Oblivion had also gone back to his team. Lin Chuyan had arranged a cleaning service to come clean the place up. She and Shen Zemu could leave everything as is and didn’t have to worry about cleaning up.

Yang Yin breathed out a sigh of relief when she read the message. Fortunately, no one else was at the house right now.

Well, no, there was one more person there.

When Yang Yin and Shen Zemu went downstairs, they met the lonely Chen Yinghu.

Chen Yinghu was sitting in the living room eating melon seeds. Chen Yinghu said as soon as he saw them: “Cousin, I’m hungry.”

“Oh.” Shen Zemu turned around to look at Yang Yin: “Wanna have breakfast with us?”

“No, thanks. I have to go somewhere. I’ll get going now, bye.” Yang Yin hastily left them.

Shen Zemu rubbed his temples again.

Chen Yinghu kept cracking melon seeds to calm his famished stomach. He asked Shen Zemu while eating the melon seeds: “Cousin, why did you come down with Yin Jie? Is there something going on between you two?”

“No, nothing.” Shen Zenmu was a little irritated; why did his cousin suddenly become smarter.

Chen Yinghu looked sad: “Cousin, don’t fall in love, alright?”

“Why?”

“I’m single, I can only find you to console me.”

Shen Zemu didn’t respond. He was thinking how Yang Yin looked preoccupied earlier. Would she hide anything from him?

Chen Yinghu was still talking to himself: “Cousin, being single like me, I feel like you’re a German Shepherd: cool, intelligent, and loyal. What do you think I’m like? I feel like I’m a Pomeranian or a Toy Poodle, those super cute kinds.”

So Chen Yinghu thought he was super cute…… Shen Zemu had goosebumps and couldn’t stand staying there anymore. He simply left the house.

In the following days, Yang Yin and Shen Zemu didn’t talk to each other at all. The only interaction was when the award money for the Leiting Cup had finally arrived. Chen Yinghu and the others happily sent out red envelopes in the WeChat group. Shen Zemu followed suit.

He would issue a 200 RMB red envelope to 4 people. Yang Yin ended up grabbing 165 RMB on her own.

Yang Yin: Thanks, tycoon. ^ _ ^

Shen Zemu: You’re welcome.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 123 Part 3

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 123 Part 3

“Enemy’s top’s coming back. Old K comes up top so we can trade turrets.”

Old Cat sounded somewhat anxious. It seemed that he wanted to work with their jungler and rush the opposition’s outer turret at top-- --But when he was near the turret, Old K didn’t walk towards top until he had defeated a set of monsters. It was a gap of only a few seconds. Just as Old Cat was closing in on the turret, the enemy’s top teleported to top and forced Old Cat to back off. Old K noticed that Old Cat’s health was low and rushed over to help-- --

Right at that moment, the enemy’s jungler also rushed over to help kill Old K and Old Cat. It was another easy 0:2!

At the eleventh minute of the game, there was a 1300 gold difference between the two teams, with YQCB in the lead.

ZGDX were having a very difficult time at top and bot lanes. Pope didn’t give Lu Sicheng a chance to go to other lanes to help or farm. Instead, Pope kept Lu Sicheng tied to bot; Lu Sicheng couldn’t get away or get rid of him!

-- --The only player in the entire ZGDX team who could develop normally was Tong Yao who was having a normal laning phase against Ai Jia.

But ZGDX couldn’t gain an advantage at mid. They gave up on the first Infernal Drake with the hope of exchanging it for a turret at mid, but the enemy quickly reinforced mid. Halfway through the fight for the drake, YQCB left their jungler to finish the fight and the rest of the team swarmed back to mid, forcing ZGDX to back off……

From the moment Old K arrived late by a few seconds, it was like ZGDX was under a curse. The enemy’s outer turrets at mid and top were barely standing, but ZGDX simply couldn’t rush things no matter how hard they tried-- --It was like YQCB had a jet engine on them; help always arrived swiftly and they effectively completed their objectives. Every time ZDGX wanted to go to a position, YQCB would predict and get to the location ahead of them!

25 minutes into the game, there was now a 2500 gold difference between the two teams.

Lu Sicheng: “Drag it on a bit. Once we take down the turrets, it won’t be too difficult then.”

Usually, in a situation like this, teammates would say some encouraging words to each other to keep fighting, but today no one was saying anything. Tong Yao frowned and clicked on the map to see those two barely standing turrets which they had tried for ten minutes to attack, but still hadn't found the chance. Suddenly a thought came to her: Will this match even have a late game?

This was a doubt she never had before and her own heart skipped a bit, her palm was all sweaty.

At the 27th minute, both sides finally had a team fight. The combination of Janna and Kindred worked well. Kindred used her ultimate and within the zone nobody could die. Then Little Fatty’s Janna would blow the weakened enemies out of Kindred’s ultimate zone while healing her allies-- --

Then Tong Yao and Lu Sicheng took the opportunity to attack with everything they had while the enemies were still confused.

Little Fatty: “Alright, alright.”

Old Cat: “This bronze tactic worked fine…...I guess no one’s used it before in competitions.”

Little Fatty: “But I figure we can only pull it off once. Next time who would be so damn dumb to get close to you and initiate a team fight?”

Little Fatty was right. ZGDX won this team fight and finally took down those two weakened turrets-- --Afterwards, however, the enemy refused to initiate a team fight with them unless Janna or Kindred either had just used their ultimate or had died……

ZGDX was back to being pressured like in the early game. Wherever ZGDX went, the enemy would follow and attack them, confident with their superior items. Tong Yao looked at the dark area on the map, her team didn’t even have the opportunity to place wards down. It was the first time she felt like a thief, trying her luck while trying to get her own team’s blue buff……

What followed seemed quite normal.

-- --At the 42nd minute, Old K was caught while placing wards and the enemy went straight for Baron.

If ZGDX lost Baron at this time, it meant the enemy would be able to get to ZGDX’s base. Though ZGDX had only 4 players alive at the moment, they had no choice but to go and face the enemy. Ashe used her ultimate to try to freeze at least one of the enemies so ZGDX wouldn’t be at a disadvantage in numbers-- --Lu Sicheng fired Ashe’s ultimate rather accurately, but the enemy had Pope and Sivir came out of the Baron’s arena and used her shield, e ability, to cancel Lu Sicheng’s ultimate. In an unprecedented occurrence, Tong Yao heard the man next to her curse during a match.

Naturally, they lost Baron.

Then it was a make it or break it team fight which ZGDX had no way of avoiding-- --

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 90 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times

Chapter 90 Part 2

Extra: Hu Ge and Keke

Ke Ke didn’t write a postcard. Instead she stood in front of the blackboard and read the postcards with her arms folded in front of her chest. She was reading what others had written and the things they really wanted to say to someone they couldn’t reach.

Ke Sha looked around in the shop and walked back to her sister: “Jiejie, what are you looking at?”

A postcard pasted in the middle to the right hand side of the board suddenly caught Ke Ke’s attention.

She didn’t know why, but the handwriting looked somewhat familiar.

“Jiejie?” Ke Sha called her sister again but received no response.

Ke Ke was surprised and confused at the same time. She reached over to take down the postcard. She carefully read through the words on the card. The handwriting was in thick black strokes and looked rather scrawled. Every word looked like a crazy bull running wild on the pasture:

To Keke

I don’t know where you are now, I don’t know what you are doing either. I’m going to start playing a competition soon, I’m a little nervous. The competition will be streamed online. If you happen to see it, please root for me.

Chen Yinghu

9/15

……

Tears dropped onto the postcard, smudging the words written on it.

Ke Sha was shocked to see her sister suddenly crying. She hesitantly asked: “Jiejie, you aren’t……”

Ke Ke looked up at her younger sister at a loss.

“You aren’t crying because the handwriting is so ugly?”

Ke Ke shook her head, still crying: “No, I, I don’t know why, but I feel so sad.” She touched her heart: “I feel especially uncomfortable here, it’s like something is stabbing here……”

Ke Sha sensed something didn’t feel right and started to carefully read the content of the postcard.

The sales clerk who stood next to them stretched his neck over to ask them: “Girls, you know Hu Ge?”

The two sisters looked up at him.

The sales clerk pointed at the postcard: “This is from Hu Ge. He used to come here often. He hasn’t been coming as often lately because he has training though.”

Ke Ke pinched the postcard tightly and tried to search the name ‘Hu Ge’ in her brain. It was still a blur to her. She still didn’t know who Hu Ge was. Yet, whenever she thought about this name, her heart hurt.

“Who…...is he?” Ke Ke asked.

“Hu Ge is a famous video game player. Now he’s playing professionally. He’s been in a few games recently, you can go follow him.”

“......” The two sisters didn’t quite understand what the sales clerk was talking about.

Ke Sha thought about something and asked: “Do you have this Hu Ge’s contact information?”

“I have his WeChat. But I can’t give it to you. Hu Ge has a lot of fans, not anyone can add him as a friend. Do you understand?”

“......” They still didn’t quite get it.

Ke Sha said: “We just want to get to know this Hu Ge, is it alright?”

The sales clerk looked at them as if to say ‘I know what you’re up to’ and said: “You are Hu Ge’s fans, right? You don’t have to deny it, there’s nothing to be ashamed of.”

“We……” Ke Sha thought about it and realized it was hard to find a convincing excuse. She didn’t expect the sales clerk would believe that her sister had lost her memory in a car accident. To fake being fans would probably be the best way to convince the sales clerk. Ke Sha then nodded earnestly: “We’re his fans. We want to know more about him, would that be alright? Please!”

“You don’t need to go through all this trouble.” Sales clerk took out his cell phone and flipped through his contacts: “I’ll just give Hu Ge a call and ask him whether he’s willing to meet you. What are your names?”

Ke Ke hurriedly answered: “I, my family name is Ke. My name is Ke Ke.”

“Ke Keke, cough, cough, cough? Why did your dad give you that name? Isn’t he cursing you to cough constantly?”

“No, my full name is just two characters, Ke Ke.”

“Oh, oh, alright. Wait here, I don’t know whether Hu Ge is free now or not. Let me try.”

The sales clerk used WeChat to call Chen Yinghu. It rang for almost half a minute before it connected. The sales clerk lifted the phone near his ear and laughed: “Hu Ge, do you remember me? Me, Xiao Deng from “Old Friends”......Hu Ge, go for the game. Come over when you have time. I’ll give you half price on postcards…...Oh, yeah, Hu Ge, there’s something here. I have two of your fans here in my shop. They’re pretty and want to get to know…...What? Not interested? ......Oh, alright. They’re quite crazy about you, one of them cried when she saw your name. Her name is Ke Ke. Goodbye, Hu Ge…..Hrm? Right, yeah that’s right, she’s called Ke Ke…...Hu Ge? Hu Ge?”

The sales clerk widened his eyes with the phone in his hand and looked shocked and confused.

“What happened?” Ke Sha asked.

“Hu Ge, he’s…... crying.”

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 123 Part 2

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 123 Part 2

Pope’s health was dropping and he had already used his shield’s e ability to block Lu Sicheng’s damage w ability!

The cooldown time for Ashe’s w ability was only 15 seconds while the cooldown time for Sivir’s shield was 22 seconds. While the two sides were facing off, YQCB’s support Braum got in front of Sivir and turned on his shield-- --

“Count 5 seconds, then exhaust him. Wait till the shield disappears, then attack the support. 5, 4 -- --”

Lu Sicheng watched his own health go down quickly and his calm voice sound in the earphones-- --As the countdown went on, Braum’s shield disappeared and Ashe began applying Frost Shot on him over and over. A level 3 Braum wasn’t very beefy enough to resist much damage and after a while his health was almost gone. Braum cast exhaust on Lu Sicheng and began to back away. Right at that moment, Lu Sicheng’s w was available and he didn’t give Braum the chance to retreat. Nine arrows of light shot out and killed Braum despite the distance he’d created between him and Ashe.

Dead！ 

The fans of ZGDX exploded into cheers-- --

Commentator A: [Such a brilliant target switch! Chessman’s super precise at calculating the timing of abilities! He’s definitely calculated everything, every single step-- --including the basic attack damage!]

Commentator B: [No one would have expected-- --Sivir vs. Ashe, with Sivir initiating the attack on Ashe after she reached level 3 first and having it end up killing her support……]

“Nice!”

“This counterattack’s well done!”

In the ZGDX voice chat, the rest of the team was praising bot’s performance.

Commentator A: [To be honest, Pope got short changed in this fight with Chessman getting first blood. It’s 400 gold. Besides, all the minions have been cleared out already. Cheng Ge’s going to be ahead with a small item when he gets back. The disadvantage caused by the differences in champions’ properties suddenly will be……]

Before he could finish his comments, Sivir made a surprising move-- --She suddenly flashed forwards and used her q ability on Lu Sicheng and Little Fatty who were under the turret, at low health, and on their way back to base. The attack killed both Lu Sicheng and Little Fatty!

Then Sivir was killed by the turret!

A tower dive! The score suddenly changed from 1:0 to 2:2, back to being even!

Both ADC had two kills each. The YQCB fans who had been somewhat quiet so far became excited!

Commentators A and B: [........................................]

Commentator A: [To be honest, I was dumbfounded by that flash.]

Commentator B: [Didn’t you notice that I haven’t had the courage to speak?]

Commentator A: [Really, almost any other ADC probably would’ve just given up under the circumstances. To use the flash like this, he must know very well about Sivir’s damage and be very confident in his own skill at pulling it off!]

Commentator A: [Friends, have you found out by now? To the commentators who can have their words thrown back at them immediately, it’s hard to be commentators for this match, hahahahahahaha……]

It was easy for the commentators to tease themselves. It wasn’t that relaxed for the players on the battleground. The lead that ZGDX enjoyed earlier was now only the 100 gold that Lu Sicheng had earned with the first kill and the additional assist that Little Fatty had……

“I didn’t even have time to hit heal, this Li Junhe.” Lu Sicheng was still keeping his cool: “The other side's ad is still here. But Old K, if you can’t make it then don’t bother to come over. I think later on their jungler will be stationed at bot.”

Just as Lu Sicheng had said, the other side’s jungler came down to bot twice in the following two minutes to harass bot. Lu Sicheng was forced to give up on farming and retreat. His experience lagged behind and he was further harassed by the enemy AD. It looked like the enemy would soon be able to take the outer turret at bot-- --

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 123 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 123 Part 1

Once the game officially started, Old K went over to the blue buff in the upper half of the jungle like always…...To the relief of his teammates, this time he didn’t ask Tong Yao to come and help but simply headed directly towards the blue buff. Then he saw Old Cat there waiting for him.

The two of them began to fight for the blue buff without exchanging a word.

Tong Yao pulled her attention back to Ai Jia-- --Ai Jia was very stable in the laning phase and had earned the nickname “Mid lane’s defense turret”......These kind of players usually played this way because either their team wasn’t strong enough and he could only wait till the late game when the other lanes caught up to him and then engage in team fights or the player was a stable person and personally preferred or was very well suited to playing this way.

Ai Jia was the latter. He played the game well with a level-headed style which was in sharp contrast to his irritable personality. He was used to playing defensively and counter-attacking quite effectively-- --For players like Tong Yao who were aggressive, many of them suffered setbacks when playing against him.

YQCB used to be a weak team and the entire team would play at a slow pace. Back then Ai Jia’s playing style didn’t stand out at all-- --But now, YQCB had changed the way they played games. The whole team had become quite aggressive, only Ai Jia would be the one holding everything down. His real function and existence became more obvious. When facing Ai Jia, Tong Yao must be more careful than usual. Because she had to keep track of more finer aspects of the game, it seemed that she was playing a bit over cautiously……

Commentator A: [It’s 3 minutes into the game and everyone is calmly in the laning phase. Let’s take a look at mid, with Smiling having Vladimir as her champion, she seems to be playing with her hands and feet bound……]

Commentator B: [If I were her, when facing defensive type of players like Ai Jia and Lu Yue, I, as an aggressive type of player, would be more prudent in selecting the timing for my attacks-- --]

Commentator A: [......Then I miss the courageous Smiling who just came to the major league  and knew nothing and feared nothing!”

Commentator B: [......That’s just you. Her team doesn’t miss that at all-- --I heard that there was a period of time whenever Smiling was playing ranked matches, Cheng Ge would stand behind her with a feather duster and strike the back of her hand each time she acted impulsively……]

The audience burst into laughter.

Commentator A: [Hahahahahahahaha, where did you hear this rumor?]

Commentator B: [Now they certainly wouldn’t do that. Now we can only see Cheng Ge leaning on Smiling’s chair like a gecko and looking at her affectionately……]

Commentator A: [And PDA everyday on stream.]

……

The players couldn’t hear what the commentators were saying as they played. Tong Yao would take the chance between farming to exchange fire with Ai Jia. But compared to Vladimir, Ai Jia’s Victor had a wider range of attack. Therefore after a few rounds of either initiating or return an attack, Tong Yao’s health potion had run out and she still hadn’t found a chance to kill Ai Jia-- --

At that moment, a fight broke out at the bot when players had just reached level 3.

It all started with Little Fatty going to place wards at the river and when he came back, his position was a little off from Lu Sicheng.

Pope reached level 3 about 2 or 3 seconds ahead of Lu Sicheng, about one or two minions more worth of experience. Sivir, with her shield, could easily hurt Ashe. As such, Pope didn’t hesitate to start the fight once he reached level 3 ahead of the opposite side-- --Lu Sicheng seemed to have anticipated it and after working together with Little Fatty for so many years, he simply said: “Can fight.” Then he clicked on the floor and the two of them started fighting without missing a beat-- --

Lu Sicheng had reached level 3 as their fight began and Little Fatty was also able to counter Pope at the moment. Lu Sicheng started to retreat and took advantage of Ashe’s superior range to build Focus stacks as he retreated, looking all the while for a chance to counter attack-- --This was the moment that tested who had the fastest hand speed. Within about 2 seconds, Pope had already caused Little Fatty, who was positioned a little closer to the front, more than half of his health. But at the same time, Lu Sicheng had built 4 stacks of Focus and immediately clicked the q ability to stop Pope’s aggressive attack!

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You're Beautiful When You Smile - Chapter 122 Part 4

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

You’re Beautiful When You Smile

Chapter 122 Part 4

Tong Yao’s hand which rested on her mouse was suddenly covered by a big hand. She confusedly looked up and met Lu Sicheng’s eyes. Lu Sicheng hadn’t put on his earphones yet but lifted the earphones up to talk to the mic: “Your hand is so cold.”

…...Nervous.

Tong Yao mouthed to reply.

Lu Sicheng had a frustrated look on his face.

He lifted his hand to pat Tong Yao’s head, then switched his hot tea with her iced coffee and said to her: “Warm up your hand.” He then put on his earphones and adjusted them-- --All the players were now ready at their seats and the match started with the ban & pick phase.

Tong Yao was the first one to ban and banned Jhin without a second thought.

With the earphones on, Tong Yao didn’t know what people other than her own teammates were saying. But she noticed that all the YQCB players turned to look at Pope at a loss-- --Pope didn’t pay any attention to his own teammates but turned his head to fix his piercing eyes at Lu Sicheng across from them.

The look in his eyes was as complicated as it could be.

But one could tell from the look to conclude that he was saying: You cheater.

Tong Yao could tell from the dumbfounded look on the faces of YQCB’s players that they seemed to have put a lot of effort into practicing a strategy with Jhin but now Jhin had been mercilessly being banned. She felt speechless: “................................................Captain, you are treacherous.”

Lu Sicheng: “There can never be too much deception in war. Just to teach him a lesson. Besides, it’s not like he has no other choices. Don’t ban Sivir in the next round then, let him have it.”

Tong Yao: “......”

Lu Sicheng: “Am I kind enough?”

Tong Yao: “....................................................”

The ban & pick phase continued-- --As Lu Sicheng had said, the ADC on both sides had deep champion pools. They could play almost any champion they picked (*except for Lu Sicheng who didn’t know how to play Draven that well.) Soon enough, the players of YQCB also recovered from their initial shock and quickly banned Old K’s Nidalee followed by Azir.

Azir was a strong champion that could keep Ryze in check. YQCB’s banning of Azir probably was to prepare for choosing Ryze as one of their champions. Therefore, when it was time for Lu Sicheng to ban, he banned Ryze also without a second thought. Tong Yao couldn’t help but to look across: Most of the players of YQCB looked like they were really thinking of jumping up to give the calm looking Lu Sicheng a good beating.

YQCB in the end banned Tong Yao’s Leblanc.

Little Fatty then banned Rek’Sai.

The banning phase thus ended.

Then it was the picking phase.

Just as Lu Sicheng had expected, after they chose the strong Vladimir for Tong Yao, YQCB quickly took Sivir and Braum. This combination of champions provided the ADC strong support in the early game, ensuring the development of the ADC……

Lu Sicheng took his time to take Ashe, then Little Fatty chose Janna.

Later, Old K let Little Fatty lock down Kindred for him.

ZGDX’s lineup looked quite random at the moment, both the commentators and the audience were puzzled-- --Since ZGDX’s pick of Janna was quite unexpected, YQCB gave up on figuring out ZGDX’s strategy during the ban and pick phase and focused on picking the champions they had planned beforehand.

Finally, the lineups of both sides were settled-- --

YQCB:

Ban: Nidalee, Azir, and Leblanc.

Pick: Ekko, Khazix, Victor, Sivir, and Braum.

ZGDX:

Ban: Jhin, Ryze, and Rek'Sai.

Pick: Maokai, Kindred, Vladimir, Ashe, and Janna.

Then the game started, all ten champions spawned at the fountain at each base…...Tong Yao lifted her hands from the mouse and keyboard to move her fingers around, took a deep breath, and looked over her computer to see all the people in the audience who were looking up at the big screen-- --

When all the champions left the fountain, everyone in the audience was attentively watching the champions run into the map.

They all widened their eyes and held their breath, looking forward to a brilliant showdown.

Commentator A: [-- --How are you, everyone in the audience. This is the last game day of the fifth week of the League of Legends Professional League Competition in the China Region. We’ll be watching the first match of a best of 3 between ZGDX and YQCB in the cross group phase of the competition! Will the traditionally strong team ZGDX, which has an all-win record up till now, keep their continuous winning streak or will the black horse of the summer season, YQCB, terminate ZGDX’s legendary path. Let’s wait - and - see!] 

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times - Chapter 90 Part 1

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.

Those Sweet Times

Chapter 90 Part 1

Extra: Hu Ge and Keke

It was the Oct 1st long weekend. All the sightseeing sites were crowded with people.

It wasn’t a pleasure to go out during this time. But most people had the long weekend off and it was hard to avoid the crowds.

Laofeng Street was one of the more unique attractions in Nanshan City. Almost every tourist who was visiting Nanshan for the first time would come here following the recommendations on the travel apps.

Ke Ke[1] put her arm around her sister Ke Sha’s arm and looked at Laofeng Street at the head of the street. They saw a packed crowd.

“There’s too many people.” Ke Sha swallowed: “Jiejie, why don’t we just leave?”

Ke Ke glanced at her sister and gave her a look to calm her down. Ke Sha was only 18 years old and had just started college. She was taller than her sister by about half a head. The sisters looked alike with pointed chins, almond shaped eyes, and natural dark brown hair.

“The crowd here isn’t that bad. See for yourself.” Ke Ke took out her cell phone to show pictures to her sister: “See that’s the West Lake, this is the Imperial Palace, and this is the Great Wall. See, see, don’t those people look like ants? Shasha, don’t you feel especially lucky now?” Ke Ke rubbed her younger sister’s head while talking.

Ke Sha expressionlessly nodded: “......Oh, yeah.”

“Come, let’s go in to take a look since we’re here already.”

There were many bakeries at Laofeng Street. It happened to be the Mid Autumn Festival today and all the bakeries had mooncakes on display. The two sisters stopped by at one of the bakeries to pick mooncakes. Ke Ke was a little talkative and kept asking the salesperson what fillings each of the cakes had. Ke Sha stood beside her listening but didn’t make a sound.

After a little while, Ke Sha found her sister spacing out. Her eyes looked blankly out as if she was memorizing something.

“Jiejie, what’s wrong?”

“Oh? It’s nothing.”

“Are you thinking about mom?” Ke Sha asked in a small voice.

Ke Ke patted her younger sister’s shoulder and said: “You got into Nanshan University this year. Mom would be very happy for you up there. Shasha, you’ve done it. I’m also happy for you.”

“En.”

Both of them implicitly didn’t mention their dad.

After buying the mooncakes, the two sisters continued to walk down the street hand in hand. Ke Sha was an attentive person, she noticed that her sister seemed to be in a daze and looked somewhat confused. She asked again: “Jiejie, what’s wrong with you?”

“I don’t know. I just feel like there’s some emptiness in my heart, as if I’ve forgotten something very important. Sometimes, I have strange dreams. There’s always someone who’s very chatty in the dreams.”

“Jiejie, take your time to remember. Sooner or later you’ll remember everything.”

Ke Ke frowned and shook her head: “Shasha, tell me again about the past.”

Ke Sha had told her sister about the things in the past over tens of thousands of times. But even now she still patiently explained it one more time.

“That time dad owed a lot of gambling debts. The loan sharks threatened to take me away and sell me off. Dad didn’t try to do anything about it. I remembered that I was only in 9th grade. There were always people following me wherever I went. I was scared everyday. You said you could get rid of them. I was worried after you left home that day and was full of anxiety that day. I waited for you till very late at night and you didn’t come home. The next day I saw in the TV news that you had had a car accident.” Though she had repeated the story so many times, Ke Sha would still become teary eyed when she reached this part of the story. “After you woke up, you didn’t remember anything and dad ran away. We moved away and changed all our contact information. Those loan sharks finally didn’t come to find us again.”

That period of time was the most difficult time for the sisters.

Ke Ke patted her younger sister’s head and said: “It’s alright now. It’s all passed. As long as we are safe.”

“En. Jiejie, are you remembering something now?”

Ke Ke carefully thought about it and finally rubbed her head and shook it: “No. I don’t know why but I just keep feeling that I’ve missed something important.”

“Take your time, you’ll remember for sure.”

“En, en!”

The sisters continued to walk along the street hand in hand. Then they saw a souvenir shop called “Old Friends.” They entered the shop. It was a small shop but had a lot of people inside. The shop had notebooks, postcards, porcelain cups, and other knick knacks. There was a big blackboard on the wall right next to the checkout counter. The blackboard was filled with postcards. Each postcard was secured on the board with light yellow tape on the top two corners. On each postcard, there were words written with black ink pens. The handwriting and signatures on each card were all different. It looked like they were all written by different people.

Ke Ke curiously looked at all the postcards and asked the sales clerk nearby: “What are these?”

The sales clerk was a young man, slender and tall. He patiently explained: “This is one of the attractions of our shop. If you have someone who you’re thinking about now, you can write a postcard and leave it here. The postcards on the blackboard will be replaced regularly. Who knows, maybe someday the person you’re thinking of would come into our shop and happen to see your postcard. Don’t you think that would be rather romantic?”

“It is quite romantic. But it’s difficult for the person to see it, the probability is too low.”

“You can come more often.”

Ke Ke was amused, so it was just the shop’s promotional gimmick.

[1]: 柯可/Ke Ke is her full name. In previous chapters, she was referred to as 可可/Keke which is  her nickname. It’s a common practice for Chinese nicknames by repeating your first name twice if it’s one character or one of the first name characters if the name is two characters.

Translated by Team DHH at http://dhh-workshop.blogspot.com.